One of the things I find so interesting about a lot of my fellow Americans (not all, but some): they seem to think the rest of the world thinks like we do. They can't fathom people not being in favor of democracy and rights for everyone and freedom to criticize the government without fear of retaliation. It's so bred into our DNA that it's very difficult to understand that it's not the case for the entire world. People are different. We've been raised differently, in different cultures, and with different values.
Feifer's mother was Russian, his parents met when his father was in Russian doing research for a book he wanted to write. Feifer was able to visit Russian in the early 90s, right after the fall of the Soviet Union, and he's visited quite a few times since. He talks about how ordinary Russians think and feel and do business. How they look at their leaders. One of the things I really liked about this book was that he didn't tar everyone with the same brush. He talked about the fact that some people like things the way they are and others don't. He talked about how some things have changed and yet others have not. A lot of folks miss communism and consider Stalin a great man. It was very interesting. And I promise, someday I will know more than just how to say "goodbye" and "vodka" in Russian :)
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